


Catalyst

by Maverick



Category: Stargate Atlantis, due South
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-17
Updated: 2014-05-17
Packaged: 2018-01-25 10:05:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1644851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maverick/pseuds/Maverick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, Benton Fraser visits Atlantis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catalyst

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pollitt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pollitt/gifts).



> Apparently my brain will take any cracktastic crossover idea that kitestringer throws out there and run with it. Her latest was this:
> 
>  
> 
> _*ahem* You know what would be great? If Benton Fraser came to Atlantis as a liaison of, erm, some kind, and he began bonding with Rodney McKay (in that sort of Odd Couple–esque way he bonds with the Rays), especially regarding things Canadian. He'd probably also bond with Ronan about tracking and other outdoorsman-type stuff. And, of course, all of the women in the city would be head-over-heels in love with him instantly. All of this would, of course, make Sheppard incredibly jealous, because HEY, who's the lovable stud around here, anyway? and he'd be all snarky toward poor Fraser, who just wouldn't even have the slightest idea what he'd done to offend the good Colonel. Yes, I think that would be great._
> 
>  
> 
> _*sits back and waits*_
> 
>  
> 
> FYI, you don’t really need to be familar with due South to read this story because it’s really just all about John.
> 
> Dedicated to pollitt. 
> 
> Thanks as always to cheights for her steller beta.
> 
> Disclaimer: Not my sandbox or my galaxy. Just playing for fun, not profit.

John Sheppard sat in his room flipping through his copy of War and Peace . He was more than a little behind schedule, what with the life-sucking aliens, his new responsibilities, and a certain time-sucking astrophysicist, he was either too tired or too preoccupied to keep up with his reading.  
  
Of course that all changed when Corporal Benton Fraser of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrived on the Daedalus and for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture remained on Atlantis.  
  
It had started out being kind of funny. John stood back amused as Elizabeth, Teyla and about 99% of the female population of Atlantis and the mainland fell all over themselves trying to be hospitable to Fraser. Only Dr. Simpson seemed to be immune to the Mountie's charms. McKay had mentioned a childhood trauma centered around something called the Musical Ride in her records. John wasn't sure what that was, but it left Simpson looking at Fraser with even more venom than she leveled at Kavanaugh. It made John really happy he wasn't a mountie. Come to think of it, it was probably a good idea never to wear the color red when visiting the labs.  
  
So it was funny. At least up until Fraser started bonding with *his* team. Okay...he could understand the stick fighting with Teyla because not only was it good exercise and an excellent skill to have at the ready, but Teyla looked really hot when she was kicking your ass.  
  
Except, she didn't kick the Mountie's ass at all. Fraser held his own and then some, so by the end of the afternoon, Teyla was pressing her forehead to his and calling him honored friend. He'd never seen Teyla warm up to anyone that quickly. Well, except him.  
  
And then there was Ronon. Dex had spent seven years alone, so maybe John could understand why he'd see a kindred spirit in someone who roamed the Northwest Territories. For two guys from separate galaxies, they had an awful lot in common. They both were men of honor who didn't quite fit into the world around them. And they were both expert trackers and marksman. John really didn't want to dwell on the whole touching and smelling scat they'd done on yesterday's mission because for once McKay was right...that was just gross. So marksman, then. The fact they both threw knives with expert precision was an asset. He was a big enough man that he could admit that. But he really hoped Ronon didn't pick up Fraser's habit of licking dead things and dusty artifacts because he wasn't prepared to watch that every day for the next few years. That was not cool. Plus, you know also...gross.  
  
He was surprised how both Ronon and Teyla seemed to identify with Fraser's endless stories. He guessed Inuit tales translated across galaxies much more universally than ferris wheels and football. He could appreciate that. It was good that they could find something in common.  
  
If he was honest with himself, he knew the exact moment it had stopped being fun. That was when Fraser became McKay's new best friend. At first Rodney was right there with him mocking the reception that Fraser had gotten when he arrived. Sure they were both Canadian, Rodney said but that didn't mean anything. He had bitched from the start about how Fraser's ultra nice routine just made it harder for all other Canadians to be themselves. Rodney said it was a bar that nobody outside of a scratchy red suit could ever meet, and he resented that he was supposed to try just because he was from Canada.  
  
And Fraser didn't seem all that keen on spending time with Rodney either. John understood that. McKay was an acquired taste. He was loud. He was brash and arrogant. And he had this annoying habit of always being right. At least in his mind. In the field, or when attempting to save their lives, that bravado was often the only shield protecting them from death, so John saluted it. But in the everyday, he could understand how it could wear someone down until they were ready to smother Rodney with a pillow. He'd had to fight that urge a time or two himself. So when Fraser would excuse himself from the room when Rodney would go on a rant, he didn't think less of him.  
  
In the end, it took a blunder on his own part to bring Fraser and McKay together. John had mistakenly said something about how he knew the RCMP motto was "always get your man" but traveling light years to do it might be a bit more than was strictly necessary. Rodney had piped up and said the actual motto was "Maintain the Right", and then Fraser began looking at him with a new set of eyes. John wasn't sure he liked whatever view the Mountie was getting.  
  
Because really, no one else should get Rodney the way he did. It had taken him a while, but he understood now that Rodney's rapid fire insults and random whining were his defensive mechanisms when he was worried or scared. And sure, he guessed that one was pretty obvious to anyone who'd spent the last year watching Rodney save their asses time and again. He knew Elizabeth got it, Zelenka of course, and Teyla. And hell, even Ronon had gotten that right away. Dex was always willing to dangle some food he'd smuggled or outright stolen in front of McKay to stave off the doom forecasting before it even started. And Rodney, much like Pavlov's dogs fell for it every time.  
  
And Sheppard couldn't really blame him for needing the distractions because it was almost as if Rodney needed to make enough noise on the outside, so he could quell the cacophony of percentages, ratios and equations regarding certain death that danced in his head. Only then, could he focus with laser intensity on the task at hand and save their asses. But each and everyone on the Atlantis crew had earned the right to see Rodney that way. They'd earned it under fire. Now Mr. Not a Hair Out of Place Even Though I Wear a Hat was getting a free show, and it pissed him off. Okay, so maybe he *was* acting like a ten-year old, but so what, he was entitled.  
  
It wasn't even Fraser understanding Rodney's complaining or tuning in on the internal symphony McKay always seemed to be conducting with his waving hands. It was like that fruit that Ronon favored with its hard, ugly shell. It was only after you broke it open that you were exposed to some of the sweetest, the most tart but tender, pulp imaginable.  
  
So while people understood Rodney's outbursts in the field, very few ever took the time to see what was hidden under that ugly shell. He had a sense of humor, equal parts wry and silly. And he was fun. Most people would never imagine Dr. Rodney McKay as playful, but dammit he was. And that excitement, that playfulness was infectious and damn addictive. John really missed that sense of camaraderie. He was pretty sure that's why kids seemed to gravitate toward McKay even though he was always gruff and okay, downright mean to them. Kids and dogs were really the best judges of character.  
  
He enjoyed watching Rodney get excited over a theory, a new piece of ancient equipment, or just a good cup of coffee. Because as loud as Rodney bitched when he was hurt or stressed, he was even more distracting when he was happy. The most hidden revelation was that Rodney had a good heart, a huge heart, that he kept hidden away. His bluntness served as a buffer to keep that heart from getting broken. But one look at his eyes, those intense blue eyes that hid nothing... Man, if you ever wanted to know McKay, to understand what he was really feeling, all it took was one good look at his eyes.  
  
And now the Mountie was looking at those eyes and actually seeing Rodney, or so it seemed from his side of the cafeteria anyway. Sure, he could have sat with them when Rodney had asked. And hey, he had asked so that was something, but he really couldn't bear to watch Rodney look at Fraser like he was some ancient device to be examined and understood. And thank God, the Mountie didn't have the gene because that on top of everything else would suck beyond measure.  
  
John was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the door open.  
  
"You know, you're an idiot."  
  
John sat down his book and looked up at Rodney. Everyone else in Atlantis, including the Mountie, would have knocked before barging into a room. But Rodney wasn't everybody else. If there was a lesson to be learned from the pity party he was throwing himself, it was that. "And you felt the need to tell me this in person?"  
  
"Seriously, I'm teetering between being touched by your temper tantrum or insulted. At this point it could go either way."  
  
John sat up and swung his legs off the side of the bed. He looked over at Rodney. "It was *not* a temper tantrum." Okay so maybe it was, but he wasn't going to admit that except maybe if he was being tortured. "Why are you here?"  
  
"You mean why am I wasting time with you when I could be hanging with my buddy Ben?"  
  
John ran his fingers through his hair and said nothing. What could he say to that? It *was* what he was thinking.  
  
Rodney smiled wide and sat down next to John with a plop. He poked his finger into John's bicep. "Yep, you are an idiot."  
  
"Well I can't recite Paradise Lost at a drop of a hat, anyway." And man, he wasn't an idiot but he sure as hell was acting like a spurned lover or something. When did he get so pathetic? He should have Teyla or Ronon beat him with sticks until he snapped out of it.  
  
Rodney shook his head and laughed. "Idiot."  
  
"You can leave at anytime."  
  
Rodney leaned back on the bed, resting his weight on his elbows. "I think I'll stay until you explain to me why you're acting this way."  
  
Maybe sitting on the bed with Rodney wasn't the best idea. He stood up and leaned back against the window. Folding his arms across his chest, he shrugged. "I'm not acting any way. I just thought I'd let you guys have some time to yourselves. Seeing you have so much in common and all."  
  
Rodney snorted. "Oh yeah, we have sooooo much in common. Let's see, we're both from Canada. We both have women falling all over each other to be near us. We are both polite to a fault and wear silly hats. You're right, we're like twins."  
  
"He made you laugh." Okay, that came out a little too pathetic.  
  
Rodney closed his eyes and then nodded. "Yes, I guess he did. We were discussing you actually."  
  
John frowned. "You were laughing at me?"  
  
"No, you ass. I was laughing because apparently Ben shares your suicidal tendencies. It seems he and his partner jumped out of an airplane without parachutes. Or rather he pushed his partner out of the plane and then followed."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes. That story was his response when I told him about you flying a jumper armed with a nuclear bomb into a hive ship. He admires you."  
  
It was John's time to snort. "Oh, I'm sure he does."  
  
"No, really he does. And if he's spending a lot of time with me, it's because I remind him of his partner, Ray Kawasaki or something like that."  
  
"Partner? With the RCMP?"  
  
"No, not the RCMP. He was a Chicago cop. Fraser worked as some sort of liaison with that department. And this Ray was working undercover as the first Ray that Ben knew." Rodney shook his head. "It's a really long story, and I wasn't really listening all that well. But when I say partner, I mean as in *partner.*"  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Yeah, oh." Rodney stood up and walked over to John. "So to reiterate, you're an idiot and he just misses his boyfriend. It seems the guy's loud and obnoxious with very expressive hands. Although apparently he has your experimental hair."  
  
"Why didn't he come with him?"  
  
"How would I know that? What am I, answer man?"  
  
John smiled at Rodney's familiar response. "No, apparently you're the guy who likes to call me an idiot repeatedly."  
  
Rodney folded his arms across his chest and stared into John's eyes. "The question of the moment is what brought on this bout of stupidity? Because really...you are so much smarter than this."  
  
John shrugged.  
  
Reaching out, Rodney squeezed John's shoulder. "I mean I have to wonder what exactly were you thinking?"  
  
John shrugged again. "I'm an idiot remember, no thinking involved."  
  
"Colonel."  
  
John walked over to the foot of the bed before turning back around to look at Rodney. "You call him Ben."  
  
"What? You want me to call you John?"  
  
"Maybe. I don't know. It just felt like..."  
  
Walking over to where John stood, Rodney pushed the other man down until he was sitting on the bed before squatting down in front of him, his hands on John's knees. "It felt like what?"  
  
John looked across at those blue eyes and couldn't lie, couldn't joke this away. "It felt like I was losing you."  
  
Rodney's lopsided grin lit up his face before he pushed John back against the bed and climbed on top of him. He pinned the other man below him with his eyes as much as his hands. "You John," he said running his thumb along Sheppard's bottom lip. "You are an idiot."  
  
John reached up and pulled Rodney's mouth to his in a hard and frantic kiss because the other man might be calling him an idiot, but his eyes... Rodney's eyes were saying, "I love you too."  
  
And his last thought while Rodney made quick work of their pants was that Mounties could "Maintain the Right" all they wanted because it looked like he'd finally got his man.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Author's note** : I really do know that Ray's last name is Kowalski, but my spellcheck kept trying to change it to Kawasaki and when I thought about it, that's probably what Rodney would do. LOL


End file.
